Fish-delousing underwater laser (2018) [video]
33 comments
·February 23, 2025internet_points
user070223
Recently covered by SciShow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWciW1y18O0
internet_points
Pretty good summary! I somehow forgot about the cleaner fish :)
igorkraw
In the beginning of the PhD, to help with rent I contracted to help develop computer vision algorithms in this field, only PoCs, never got very far.
And interesting thing is that the lice apparently evolve super fast, including getting translucent and resistant against poison
globalise83
That's interesting! They might also evolve a tendency towards moving to the left flank of the fish.
ndr42
Reminds me of the evolution of fish that prey on scales of other fish to have two distinct types with the mouth on the right or left:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perissodus_microlepis
Depending on which type is more frequent the other is more successful because the prey is more cautions on the other side...
edit: spelling
globalise83
My comment was half in gentle jest, but you have really found a relevant example there - thanks for sharing. I guess I have a potential PhD project if I ever want to get into maritime biology: "The Dark Side of the Fish: How Crafty Parasites Outmaneuver High-Tech Pest Control"
steve_adams_86
I’ve noticed that selective pressure on shrimp in an aquarium leads to colour morphs very, very quickly. I bet lice are the same.
I’ve had tanks where shrimp will match their surroundings quite closely within a year or so. This would be due to some micro predator being present and picking off any babies that are easy to see. Shrimp have babies frequently and the only ones that survive in those conditions are able to blend in really well. Every 2.5 months or so a new generation becomes sexually mature and has dozens of babies every 8 weeks or so.
It’s a fun hobby because you can actually develop your own morphs in a matter of only years if you want to.
So it’s not necessarily evolution, but pigments developing (or not) due to environmental pressures.
codr7
There are plenty of other problems with keeping fish in concentration camps.
Industrial approaches applied to living beings are just nasty, period.
xeonmc
Can they be mounted on sharks?
essi_
Heard about this several years ago and while it's very cool technology, it's sadly also like putting makeup on a pig. Fish health in those tanks is terrible. The entire idea of farming fish is terrible. The best idea they've come up with so far to avoid sickness is moving those farm tanks onto land so they can be as controlled as possible. I find it to be a bleak industry.
https://www.vetinst.no/nyheter/fiskehelserapporten-2022-inte...
jniles
I would love to see more data on this. Their site makes some bold claims, but it is hard to know how to quantify the effectiveness of the laser treatment, How many units do you need per X fish? After how many hours/ days/ weeks does it take to reduce the parasites to X levels?
Not critiquing the technology, just hard to visualize as someone with no knowledge or experience in the field.
whiw
If the laser is powerfull enough to kill sea-lice then how does it avoid blinding the fish or giving them retina burn?
thatguy0900
As long as the fish can still find food that might not matter in a farm environment
whiw
That seems a somewhat callous disregard for the fish, blinded and swimming around with itchy eyes from burned out retina.
thatguy0900
Yeah, it's definitely unethical. I doubt the farmers care though
James_K
The hyphen makes all the difference here.
Grosvenor
This is exactly the sort of thing I got into tech for. Real world, no bullshit solutions to problems.
I love it.
walterbell
Only available in Norway, https://www.stingray.no/delousing-with-laser/?lang=en
> technology combines stereo machine vision, advanced software and high-precision laser to target and kill parasites that infect farmed fish.
chriscjcj
What are the falling pellets?
dvh
It concentrates fish on one spot
ThePowerOfFuet
Food.
cassepipe
Sea lice I assumed
amelius
It would be more interesting to see what the camera of the system sees.
Lice are a huge problem. If this solution works, it must not be implemented that widely. The news is full of solutions like physical washing, thermic treatment (basically hot baths), loads of chemicals, also huge amounts of chlorine poured into surrounding rivers because the fish escape the farms and spread lice. The lice are really adaptive. There are more and more lice due to higher sea temperatures[0] and increased resistance to treatments.
[0] https://www-nrk-no.translate.goog/nordland/hoye-temperaturer...